Protecting rights of digital content, such as software, has become increasingly difficult in this digital age. Unauthorized copying and sharing of software is rampant.
One popular approach for protecting rights of digital content is the use of a digital rights management (DRM) system. Conventional DRM systems typically include at least two parties: a content provider and a rights entity. In operation, the user registers with the rights entity and obtains a decryption means. When the user requests digital content from the content provider, the digital content is sent to the user as an encrypted file. The digital content in the file can be accessed after the file has been decrypted using the decryption means.
Conventional DRM systems work well for protecting digital content that is strictly data in nature. Digital data such as music files and video files can be protected using a variety of encryption schemes. However, encryption does not work well for protecting computer software. Unlike data, computer programs are designed to perform operations and often require installation. It is not efficient to use encryption to protect a computer program due to architectural complexity and extraneous operation overhead associated with the required decryption mechanisms.
Currently, with respect to software that is stored on physical media, such as a disk, the license to use the software is implied to travel with the media itself. Because of this, many users who are not rightfully licensed to use the software may use the software, while being either unaware of the need for a license or willfully ignoring the need for a license. For example, in some high piracy regions, a user is able to purchase unauthorized disks containing copies of computer software. Because the user has purchased a disk containing the software, there is an implication, at least to the user, that the software is properly licensed, regardless of whether or not a proper license has actually been procured. This pirated software may be run on any appropriate computer without the user procuring a license to use that software. It would be desirable to prevent the use of software without a proper license and to separate the delivery of the license to use software from the delivery of the media containing the software.
That being said, some conventional methods prevent unauthorized distribution of a computer-executable program by encrypting the entire file containing the program. The encrypted file is then transmitted to an intended user who has been given the proper decryption means. After the file has been transmitted, the user has to decrypt the file before installing and using the program. However, once the program has been decrypted, the program is no longer protected from unauthorized use and transfer to other devices.
Effective and efficient systems and methods for controlling illegal distribution and licensing of computer software eludes those skilled in the art.